Let Them Eat Cake (12 page)

Justin shook his head in denial. “No, Maria. You can’t hide this from me. I heard your moans and saw the marks on your body. I lost control, lost my mind and you suffered for it. I don’t know what came over me. I was angry…upset with you. I felt the overpowering need to dominate and force you into submission. The result is inexcusable. I should never have touched you in anger.”

Maria laughed and tried to prod Justin out of his self-flagellation. “Give me a break here, Justin. I’m a vampire. I can jump or leap or whatever over tall buildings in a single bound, run faster than a speeding bullet…and I can never remember what I’m supposed to do with the locomotive.” She waited for his response.

“That’s Superman, not a damn vampire, and you don’t do anything with the locomotive. You’re missing the point, Maria,” he retorted. She could hear the exasperation in his tone.

“No, Justin. The point is
you can’t hurt me
. Well…unless you lop my head off. Again.” She shrugged. “And bury it in a separate box from my body. Or you could use a flamethrower…that would hurt. Or a stake to the heart, the old wives’ tales are correct on that point too. A stake would kill me, but really—”

“Maria!” This time Justin shouted her name.

She threw her hands up. “Okay! I’ll stop. But only if you admit you didn’t hurt me.” She knew her voice sounded petulant and yet she didn’t care.

He was being ridiculous.

“Fine. You’re super vamp and I’m a mere mortal with a control problem. I’ll stop if you’ll agree that you won’t go after this creature alone. I can’t follow you over the side of a building, can’t find you unless Matt or Brian are with me. We don’t know all the abilities of the creature we’re hunting and I obviously can’t handle your being in danger,” he demanded.

Maria sighed. So it had come down to this. Fine. She couldn’t promise him. NeeKata would have died if she hadn’t gotten to him as fast as she did. And Justin
was
mortal. She couldn’t fly through the air with him in her arms.

Well…she could, but she wouldn’t move as fast, nor would she be able to protect them if she needed to.

Reluctantly, she shook her head. “I can’t promise you that, Justin. You know I can’t. Nee would have died this time. Next time might mean someone else’s life, and I won’t take the risk when minutes…hell,
seconds
could make the difference between them living or dying. I move faster on my own.”

Justin dropped his head. She could tell he agreed with her words. Didn’t like them, but agreed.

After a few minutes he raised his eyes to hers. The pain and despair in their depths shot to her soul. She cried out when he stated flatly, “I know. But I can’t risk hurting you, Maria. Next time the consuming rage I feel when you place yourself in danger might cause me to really damage you.”

She started to deny his ability to harm her when he stopped her with a raised hand and a shake of his head.

“Don’t. Don’t mitigate the damage I did tonight. I know you’re only trying to make me feel better. I can’t take the chance, Maria. I’ll take you home. And then I think I should stay away from you for a while. I don’t understand where this dark need to dominate is coming from. But until I do, you’ll be safer without me.”

Chapter Ten

Maria was in a blind rage by the time she got back to her penthouse. She slammed the door behind her, not hearing the frame crack as she stamped toward her room. She ignored the stunned looks from Matt and Brian.

“Damn stupid man!” she shrieked, as she stormed into her room and threw her backpack against the wall, smiling in evil delight when it embedded itself in the plaster. “Hah! Weak. Fragile. Woman. My. Ass.” She punctuated each word by throwing something else, something big and heavy or something that would make a satisfying crash when it hit.

When throwing things lost its appeal, she threw herself down on the bed and sobbed. Knowing she acted out of character didn’t help. Her heart ached and she hurt. Not from anything Justin had done to her, but from his absence. She despaired of ever feeling whole again, and sighed in relief as the sun crept over the horizon, bringing with it the oblivion of day sleep.

She never saw her two men creep into the room to cover her with a blanket and straighten up the mess she’d made with her tantrum. Nor did she hear their whispered concern.

Two days later she was still hurting. And sick. She’d struggled through the nights trying to protect her city and had finally given up. She’d be Emp bait if she ran into the creature in this state.

The day sleep no longer brought her respite from the torment. The endless suffering seemed to take control of her body. She moaned in agony as another wave of pain caused her stomach muscles to clench and her head to throb. She felt every beat of her heart, every molecule of her skin ache, as it seemed to languish for Justin. “Languish is such a stupid word,” she muttered.

“Maria.”

What seemed to be hours of torture later she heard Brian call to her, but couldn’t force her eyelids to open. She gasped as another jolt of agony tore through her body.

“Maria, that’s it. Something is definitely wrong with you. It’s the middle of the day, and while we’ve been worried about the Queen Bitch routine you’ve treated us to the last couple nights, this is worse. I’m calling Dr. Morgan.”

She grunted. Not knowing or caring if Brian took the sound to be acquiescence or negation of his statement. She just wanted to die. Oh, wait. She was already dead. Damn it, it wasn’t supposed to hurt like this when you were already dead.

“Keep an eye on her, Matt,” Brian said, as he started for the phone in the kitchen. “She’s already thrown up once and we don’t want her suffocating in her own puke.” He detoured to the front door as the bell rang. Security hadn’t called anyone up, so it must be another paranormal. He looked through the peephole to see Luke standing outside the door.

Throwing the door open, he surprised the man by flinging his arms around him and hugging. Hard. “Damn, am I glad to see you,” he practically broke down in sobs of his own. He hoped Luke would be able to help them. Surely the older vamp would have some idea of what was wrong with Maria.

“What’s going on?” Luke questioned as he pulled back from Brian’s embrace.

Managing a weak smile, Brian told him about living with Maria the last few days. He explained the raging tantrums and the snide bitchiness when she was awake. How she refused to feed, or drink anything…the painful sickness she dealt with now.

“I don’t understand.” Brian knew he whined the words but he was so tired and worried he didn’t care. “She never treats us like this, throwing things and screaming in anger. And I didn’t think vampires were supposed to get sick. She acts like she’s got a virulent case of the flu. You can’t get the flu, can you?”

Luke looked at him in shock.
Oh, this can’t be good
, Brian thought.

“She’s sick?” Luke questioned him.

“Puking her guts up, running a fever, screaming in agony—sick,” he affirmed. “This is the second day—hey! It’s daytime. What the hell are you doing here during the day?”

Luke rolled his eyes at him. “Not that it matters right now, but I’m old enough that the sun doesn’t bother me anymore. Give Maria a few more decades and she’ll be the same. She won’t have to sleep during the day, and eventually she’ll be able to spend a little time in the sun. Over the centuries, she’ll work up to having enough resistance she could sunbathe in the nude if she wants.”

“Eww, ick! Not something to look forward to,” Brian groused. “And she’ll want to, I just know it. How old are you anyway?”

“Older than dirt,” Luke replied sarcastically. “Now, where is Maria?”

Obviously sharing time was over.

“This way. You are not going to believe this,” Brian mumbled, as he led the other man down the hall to Maria’s bedroom. He nodded at Matt when he let Luke into the room, letting him know it would be okay. Help had arrived.

Brian watched intently as Luke felt Maria’s forehead. He kept watching as the dark-haired vampire touched her temples in an attempt at a mind merge and immediately pulled back in obvious pain.

“Well?” Brian asked impatiently.

Luke didn’t answer him, but asked a question of his own. “Where is Justin?”

Brian shrugged before he replied, “I haven’t seen him for a couple of days. Based on Maria’s ranting I would have to say they had a fight. A doozy, if you ask me. But she didn’t offer to explain about what.”

“Great. I need to go check on him. Don’t bother to call the doctor. He won’t be able to help you with this. Get me Justin’s address and I’ll be back before dark.”

“Wait!” Brian cried, as Luke headed for the front door with Matt at his heels. “You didn’t say what was wrong with Maria. How can we help her get better if we don’t know what’s wrong?”

Luke sighed and turned back to address the two of them. “I can’t say for sure what’s wrong with her. I have my suspicions, but it will take me too long to explain right now and I think we might be running out of time. Trust me, Brian. Just keep taking care of her like you have been. You’re doing the best you can for her. If I’m right, we’ll make it all better when I get back.”

Brian shook his head as Matt handed Luke a piece of paper he’d written Justin’s address on. When the door closed behind Luke, he turned to his partner. “This doesn’t sound good,” he told the other man, as they shared a comforting hug before returning to keep what felt like a deathwatch over their mistress.

Luke looked at the house in front of him and swore. Several papers littered the front porch and his preternatural senses could smell the sickness inside. He reached for the door as a car pulled into the drive.
Damn, now what?
he cursed silently.

Turning, he saw Bill, Justin’s father, climb out of the car and hurry over to him. “Something’s wrong with Justin,” the man said without preamble.

“Yeah, that’s why I’m here. Why don’t you go home and let me handle this, old man.” He didn’t need more humans and their emotions cluttering up this mess. Dismissing Bill, Luke moved to open the door.

Only to feel the cold steel of a very large handgun pressed to the side of his head.

“I may be old. But Maria taught me well how to handle disrespectful vampires. This gun is loaded with silver bullets. My understanding is a silver bullet to the brain kills vampires with no chance of regeneration. I don’t have a problem with pulling the trigger. You have a problem with letting me know what’s going on?”

Okay, so maybe he’d been a little rude. And once again he seemed to have misjudged someone. Getting to be a nasty habit, that. “I apologize,” Luke said sincerely. “Let’s chalk up this little incident to my having an extremely bad day. I just came from Maria’s. She is very ill. I need to see Justin as I think we will find he is also really sick. Maybe even close to death. Let’s get in there and see if I’m right. Do you have a key or would you like me to open the door?”

He allowed Bill to push him out of the way and stood to the side as the worried father unlocked the door.

He rolled his eyes as Bill complained, “Vampires are not supposed to be up walking around during the day. Just when I start thinking I know the rules, someone comes along and changes them. I like rules. I live for rules. Why in the fuck are you awake during the day?” Bill’s voice escalated in irritation and volume.

Luke knew the man wasn’t mad at him but worried about his son. But he still held the gun in his waving hand.

Calmly, Luke reached for the weapon while using his most soothing vampiric voice. “After this is all over, you and I will sit down and have a discussion with Maria and Justin about maturing vampires and ever-increasing abilities. It has come to my attention that there may be holes in her education. The greatest deficit could be what is killing her and your son.” He brushed past Bill and headed up the stairs in the direction of the single, weak heartbeat in the quaint Victorian home.

Shit. Just as he suspected, Justin lay in a miserable heap on his bed. Pale and drawn, the man moaned and writhed in pain. Luke held Bill back for a moment and waved his hand, cleaning the room of odor and waste. Only then did he let Bill move toward Justin. He watched silently as Bill felt the fever and checked the dilated pupils.

“He needs to go to a hospital. If I didn’t know better I’d say he had a severe case of the DTs. He has all the classic symptoms of heroin withdrawal.”

“A hospital won’t be able to help him. Give me a minute while I make a phone call.”

“Who are you going to call and why?” Bill questioned him.

“I am calling an old vamp friend. Someone older than I, whom I believe went through the same thing Maria and Justin are going through now. I just want to confirm my suspicions. Will you let me call him, old man? Or do we sit here and watch as Justin dies?” Luke had reached the end of his patience with interfering mortals. He wasn’t used to explaining his every action.

“Call him. But do it from this phone. It’s a speakerphone, and I want to hear every syllable spoken.”

Luke started to argue and then noticed the steely glare in Bill’s eyes. The man wouldn’t give an inch without a fight, and Luke knew they were running out of time.

“Fine,” he bit out between clenched teeth. He reached for the phone on the nightstand and engaged the speakerphone, then dialed the number in Russia from memory.

“4@02AB2C9B5!” A deep gravely voice said what sounded like “asdraswhicha”. Luke knew the man on the other end of the line had said hello in Russian. That was the extent of his knowledge of the language.

“Vlachko! This is Luke. I need your help.”

“Aha…you bloodsucking fiend. When don’t you need my help? You never call to say something sweet. Like Vlad, you old coot, how’s it hanging?”

“Jesus, Vlad. Your mate has tainted your language. I don’t have much time. Maria is really sick. She’s vomiting, has had no appetite for days and is doubled over in pain with muscle and stomach cramps. Before she collapsed in bed her human servants said she was irritable and mean. Throwing things and verbally abusing them.”

Silence fell heavy on the other end of the line, eventually broken with a weary sigh. “Maria would never do that to her little bookends.”

“I understand that. Vlad?”

“I am here, 4@C3.”

@C3—friend…so okay, he knew two words in Russian.

“I have put my mate Veronica on the line. I have told her of your problem.” There was a question in Vlachko’s voice.

Luke snorted. “Not my problem, Vlad. Maria has been spending time with a mortal. I am at the man’s house now. They had a lover’s spat and haven’t seen each other for two days and nights. He’s in worse shape than she is. Which brings me to my question…it’s the Uh-Oh Factor again, isn’t it? Somehow Maria managed to form a true vampire bond with a mortal?”

A very feminine voice filled the room. “At some point in our lives we were mortal. If you look at it that way, it makes sense. Why would we only form a true bond with other vampires? Count Dracula and I met only a few days after I was turned, and my genetic code was still in transition. At the time we had no idea what was happening to us. You know that…we discussed in great length how the Uh-Oh Factor reared its ugly head. We didn’t even realize vampire true bonds even existed. Since then we’ve been trying to research old texts, talking with many of the ancients, and all we’ve been able to discover about the bond is the fact that it is extremely rare, only occurring every few hundred years.”

“Ronnie and I were joined almost two hundred years ago this month,” Vlad added in helpful concern.

His reminder was unnecessary. Luke had been at their wedding.

“Okay, so I assume somehow Maria and Justin formed a true bond,” Luke said in disgust.